Can you hear me?
by Allied Hero
Summary: It's July 1995, and Louis LeBeau finds himself asking only one question.


_Warning: Mention of character deaths._

_**A/N: **__Assignments can wait. I had to get this off my chest._

* * *

**January 30, 1952**

The news has only just reached me today, but it is unfortunately true. Schultz died two days ago from an abdominal haemorrhage, no doubt from his unhealthy eating habits. Of course, I am partially to blame for this. I did not see anyone else feeding him apple strudel on a weekly basis for four years!

But, there is nothing we can do now. His funeral will be held at the end of the week in his hometown of Heidelberg, and we will all be there - even Klink is coming along. I know those two ended up becoming closer after the war, despite their differences. And what timing he had too, passed away on his birthday! On the bright side, he officially made it to the grand old age of 63.

However, there is some good that can come of this. It will be the first time all of us, Klink included, will have seen each other in person as a group since the day we were liberated. Kinch became le Colonel's aid after the war, so they have seen each other almost everyday. Pierre and I met up a few times in our respective homelands too - it was just not the same without my best friend there. I have not been able to see André since however, so I am looking forward to it despite the occasion. The last I heard, he was married and had twin daughters. Imagine, little André already a father!

I suppose it would be wise to spend this time in each other's company wisely, as I do not know how long it will take for us all to meet up again. I only hope that it is not for the same reason.

* * *

**June 30, 1958**

They killed him. Those filthy pigs killed him! I do not even know how I am writing this, as my tears prevent me from seeing clearly. I only just got the call from Pierre an hour ago. He said le Colonel's body was found in his home yesterday afternoon - he had been murdered. The police have not given out any details yet, but from what Pierre has heard, the left side of his head had been beaten while he was sleeping. Beaten with what, I do not know. By whom? The possibilities are endless. Le Colonel made many enemies throughout the war.

But only one man hated him more than anyone else.

If Hochstetter were a free man, then I would know without a doubt that he was the killer. However, since he is not, I can only guess that he had someone do the dirty work for him. Filthy Boche! Just when you think the evil has been destroyed, they come back and hit you where it hurts.

The funeral will be held at the beginning of next week, but Pierre said he is too distraught to go. I had hoped he would come to see le Colonel off for the final time, but I can understand why he is so upset. When Kinch left the operation due to problems at home, Pierre became his right hand man - even though he had practically been his right hand man before then anyway. Would you believe it, even Burkhalter is going to be there. I guess it is his duty to pay his respects to le Colonel. He saved that man's life countless times throughout the war.

The tears are slowly fading now, but my heart is still breaking. I promise you mon Colonel, I will find whoever did this to you. And when I do, they are going to wish they were never born.

* * *

**December 7, 1974**

Klink died yesterday morning. The news has only reached me now, and I honestly do not know what to think. It is a mixture of both uneasiness, yet sadness at the same time. Sure, he was German and could be fairly mean at the worst of times. But at the same time, he did not treat us too cruelly. Besides, the man was simply doing his job. He never deprived us of the rations we were allocated, and often gave us extra food both due to le Colonel's bargaining and out of his own free will.

So yes, I will be there at his funeral, just as Kinch, André and Pierre will be too. I am honestly surprised Pierre is coming - especially after that one time Klink almost had him transferred to another Stalag. But that was a long time ago now, and I suppose he has put that behind him.

Besides, if it were not for Klink, our operation at Stalag 13 would not have been possible. We do owe him our thanks, even if he had no idea he was making a contribution to the Allied war effort during the entire course of the war. If anything, he was surprisingly calm when he found out about the operation upon our liberation - or did he already know? I thought he would have been furious, but he simply walked through the tunnels, almost mesmerised by what we had managed to create. I am only realising now that I never asked him, and am now wishing I did.

I guess that is one secret he gets to keep from us.

* * *

**September 10, 1980**

I cannot believe it. Little André is now gone too. He was only 67, much younger than I expected him to be when he passed. In fact, I expected him to be the last one to go out of all of us.

However, this is not the case as we now know. I received the news from Pierre, who received the news from Kinch late yesterday. Despite all the times we teased him and the insults we threw at him, he was loved dearly by the rest of us. Sure, he messed up the occasional mission and was constantly tripping over his own two feet. But that was his personality, and that is what we loved about him. He was almost as innocent as a child compared to the rest of us. Even after he settled down and had a family, there was still much he did not understand.

Pierre is distraught again, and so am I. That is two of us now. Who will be next? And how soon will it be? I cannot bear to think about it. André's funeral will be held in a week, and we will all be there. Pierre realised he had made a mistake in not attending le Colonel's funeral, and said he would not make the same mistake twice. I will finally meet André's wife and his daughters too - they are now all grown up. In fact, I believe one of them is now married and even has a child of her own!

I only hope they know how much their father was loved by the rest of us.

* * *

**March 16, 1988**

It is all becoming too much. Now Kinch is gone too, leaving only Pierre and myself. I received a call this morning from a hospital in Detroit - apparently he had asked them to notify both Pierre and myself of the news personally upon his death. It has shocked the both of us, as we did not even know he was sick. The hospital said it was kidney failure.

So what happens now? Pierre and I will pay our respects next week, where the funeral will be held in his hometown. We will also meet his wife and his son there, who we never had the chance to meet before. That is the oddity of these circumstances - while we meet new people, we are bidding others farewell for the final time.

Kinch was always the level headed one of our group. Even when le Colonel was worrying, he would stay calm and help him find a way out of each mess. He continued to do that long after the war was over too. So it is now that I find myself writing this on a plane flight to Detroit, Michigan.

Now only Pierre and I remain. He is my best friend, and I cannot bear the thought of being here without him.

* * *

**June 2, 1995**

It has happened.

My ami is gone, and I cannot comprehend it. I refuse to believe that he is no longer here, that I can no longer speak to him as a being on this earth. Mavis was the one who told me of the news this morning, died of oesophagus cancer she said. His smoking habit came back to haunt him, as it did with André. I knew he was dying, and I visited him about a week ago. I knew he did not have much time left. But I cannot believe that the man I was simply able to talk to just a few days ago is now gone, unresponsive.

Can you hear me, Pierre? Can you all hear me?

Mavis invited me to stay with her family while the funeral arrangements are being made, and I have accepted. It will be nice to be around his family members during this time. Time is running out. I hate to see things end, yet I cannot comprehend a world of eternity. But in due time, I will join them too, and we may all see each other once again. I would like to think they all know how much I wish they could come back, even if it is just to say final goodbyes. Goodbye. I do not like that word.

But then again, without goodbyes, there would be no hellos either.

* * *

There was one agreement that we all made while we were stationed at Stalag 13. Le Colonel made us promise that we would all keep in touch after the war, no matter what. He said, and I quote: 'That's an order'.

And we did keep our promise.

But now they are all gone, and only I remain. Did I break the promise, or did they? It does not matter, as we cannot communicate anymore anyway. If I had the chance to speak to them again, just once, even just for a minute, I would ask them only one thing.

Can you hear me?

* * *

_Each date used is a combination of both reality and fiction. The date and month are both real, most being a day or two late due to the amount of time it would take for the word to get through. However, the year was calculated by getting the fictional year of birth from the 'hh wiki' and adding the age they were when they died in real life._

_Causes of death listed are also real, as you would have probably worked out._

_I will probably write separate stories for both Howard Cain and Leon Askin at some point in the future. However, I thought due to the nature of this story, that it'd be best not to include them here._


End file.
